Boise’s Interfaith Sanctuary adds emergency housing for pets of the homeless
A local nonprofit and a Boise homeless shelter have teamed up to offer an emergency housing solution for pets of the homeless.
Nomadic Critters, which provides veterinary care for the pets of those experiencing homelessness, is working with Interfaith Sanctuary to create a small kennel on the sanctuary’s property. It will allow homeless people to stay at the shelter with their pets in emergency situations.
Interfaith does not allow animals in the shelter. Trained service dogs are the only exception. Jodi Peterson, the shelter’s executive director, said that rule has forced some people to make tough decisions.
“When it’s really, really hot or really, really cold, we have people come to the shelter and don’t know our rule for service animals only,” Peterson said in a phone interview. “So they’ll opt to sleep outside or in a car because they don’t want to leave that animal.”
Peterson said the housing is not yet available, and there is no set date for when it will be completed.
With the addition of the pet housing, though, Interfaith will be able to offer a safe place for both the person and their animal in those last-minute situations.
The pet housing will be on Interfaith Sanctuary property in Conestoga-type huts built by students from Sage International School of Boise. The huts can be hooked up to the shelter’s power supply to operate heating and cooling systems. Peterson said they’ll likely have room for only a few animals, which will be in individual kennels inside the hut.
She emphasized that the animal accommodations are not meant to be part of Interfaith’s typical offerings, but instead a stopgap solution to allow the shelter to house people who might otherwise leave.
“This is not, ‘You can keep your animal with us forever,’” Peterson said. “We’re not advertising this as a benefit for staying at our shelter. In no way are we saying we’re the animal-friendly shelter.”
Nomadic Critters will supply the crates. The organization, which formed in late 2018, already offers a free veterinary clinic at Interfaith every other month. Founder Pamela Marshall said she’s still determining the best way to provide pet food and other necessities for homeless people’s pets.
“There’s a definite need for flea and parasite control,” she said in a phone interview. “And we’re looking at what other needs aren’t being met.”
Peterson said she thinks the small handful of kennels should be plenty to serve Interfaith’s guests on an emergency basis.
“We don’t get hundreds of people with companion animals,” she said. “We get one or two here and there.”
